252 ALLEN'S naturalist's LIBRARY; 



Range in Great Britain. — The Passenger Pigeon has been shot 

 five times in our islands, but Mr. Saunders doubts if, on these 

 occasions, the birds have been really wild individuals. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The range given for the 

 species in the "Check- List of North American Birds" (p. 179) 

 is as follows : — " Eastern North America, from Hudson's Bay 

 southward and wxst to the Great Plains, straggling westward 

 to Nevada and Washington Territory." 



Habits. — Dr. Brewer, in the " History of North American 

 Birds," gives the following notes on the species : — 



"Mr. Audubon states that in 1813, on his way from 

 Henderson to Louisville, in crossing the barrens near Hardens- 

 burg, he observed these birds flying to the south-west in 

 greater numbers than he had ever known before. He attempted 

 to count the different flocks as they successively passed, but 

 after counting one hundred and sixty-three in twenty-one 

 minutes he gave it up as impracticable. As he journeyed on, 

 their numbers seemed to increase. The air seemed filled with 

 Pigeons, and the light of noon-day to be obscured as by an 

 eclipse. Not a single bird alighted, as the woods were 

 destitute of mast, and all flew so high that he failed to reach 

 any with a rifle. He speaks of their aerial evolutions as 

 beautiful in the extreme, especially when a Hawk pressed upon 

 the rear of a flock. All at once, like a torrent, and with a 

 noise like that of thunder, they rushed together into a compact 

 mass, and darted forward in undulating lines, descending and 

 weeping near the earth with marvellous velocity, then 

 mounting almost perpendicularly in a vast column, wheeling 

 and twisting so that their continued lines seemed to resemble 

 the coils of a gigantic serpent. At times they flew so low that 

 multitudes were destroyed, and, for many days, the entire 

 population seemed to eat nothing else but Pigeons. 



"When a flight of Pigeons discovers an abundant supply of 

 food, sufficient to induce them to alight, they are said to pass 

 around in circles over the place, making various evolutions, 

 after a while passing lower over the woods, and at length 

 alighting ; then, as if suddenly alarmed, taking to flight, only 

 to return immediately. These manceuvres are repeated with 

 various indications of indecision in their movements, or as if 



